Chapter 73: She Wants to Prove Her Innocence
A hashtag about Chloe York shot to the top of the trending charts.
After all, she was a high school senior, and anything involving the college entrance exams touched upon the issue of fairness for millions of students.
The comments section was quickly overrun. There was barely a positive word to be found—it was all shock and vitriol.
[OMG, is this for real? Did she actually cheat? No wonder she suddenly got so good. One point on the first mock exam and then over eighty on the second? You gotta be kidding me!]
[I heard that because of that life-saving incident, the principal helped Chloe York, and that’s how she scored over eighty in every subject. I thought she was a good person, but it turns out she’s not. You really can’t trust anything you see online.]
[I always suspected that whole story about her saving someone was fake. A high school senior saving a kid from human traffickers? How is that possible! Looks like my gut was right all along.]
[That whole ’saving someone’ thing was probably just laying the groundwork for this. What’s the relationship between Chloe York and the principal? Why would he help her so much? Isn’t she just the fake young miss of her family? What could she possibly offer him?]
Overnight, public opinion completely reversed. The internet went from adoring Chloe York to viciously cyberbullying her.
Brooke York was overjoyed, finally seeing the exact scene she had been hoping for unfold.
’This was the life Chloe York deserved,’ Brooke thought. ’She should be reviled and despised by all, not loved and respected.’
She hadn’t expected the homeroom teacher to post it online. She figured that as a teacher, he would, at most, spread the rumor around school. She never dreamed he would put it directly on the internet.
When Chloe York woke up the next day, she saw the posts online, but she paid the trending hashtags and comments no mind.
’That’s the internet for you,’ she thought. ’People don’t know the truth, nor do they care. They just love to jump on the bandwagon.’
But just as Chloe put down her phone to get ready for the day, all the hashtags attacking her were wiped clean. Not a single one could be found.
However, an even faster counterattack came from netizens, now posting with new hashtags and comments, convinced that Chloe York had indeed cheated with the principal’s help.
[WTF, the video I just posted got deleted. Chloe York definitely has powerful backing.]
[It was trending so hard, and then suddenly, it was all scrubbed clean.]
[Chloe York, show your face! You’re just a student, and a fake young miss at that. How do you have this kind of pull!]
「The Shaw Residence」
"Young Master, we’ve just finished deleting everything, but as soon as we did, more posts appeared. I suspect someone is hiring paid posters," a middle-aged man in a suit said respectfully to a young man.
Evan Shaw nodded. "Then keep deleting them."
"Yes, sir. There’s one more thing. It seems other parties are also deleting the posts, and it’s not just one other group."
"Not just one?" Evan Shaw asked, puzzled.
"Correct. So far, we’ve identified two other parties besides ourselves who are also deleting the posts."
’If there was one other party, it had to be Ethan Prescott,’ Evan Shaw mused. ’But who could the second one be?’
He racked his brain but couldn’t come up with anyone. ’Whatever,’ he decided. ’No point dwelling on it.’
"All right, I understand. It doesn’t matter who else is deleting them. Just make sure none of this filth shows up on the internet again."
"Yes, sir!"
The middle-aged man left, leaving Evan Shaw alone in the darkened living room.
「Kane Group」
"President, everything’s been deleted," his secretary reported to Adrian Kane.
"Mm. Keep deleting them as they pop up." Adrian Kane didn’t stop what he was doing. He was always swamped with work.
The only time he allowed himself a break was when he went to see Chloe York.
"Yes, sir!" the secretary replied. But instead of leaving, he lingered, looking like he wanted to say something more.
Busy with his work, Adrian assumed the secretary had left. When he glanced up, he saw him still standing there hesitantly. "Is there something else?"
Now that he was asked, the secretary no longer hesitated. "Besides us, the young master of the Prescott family has also arranged for people to delete the posts. And there’s one other party we haven’t been able to identify."
"If you can’t identify them, don’t worry about it. It’s not important."
"Yes, sir!"
Chloe York shouldered her backpack and headed to school. The moment she set foot on campus, she could feel everyone’s eyes on her.
People were gathered in hushed groups, whispering amongst themselves. Chloe paid them no mind and walked toward her classroom.
Ethan Prescott was walking toward her. He stopped right in front of her. "Chloe, don’t worry about what’s online. I’ve already had people take it down!" he said, trying to comfort her.
After all, Chloe was a girl, and he figured girls were generally more sensitive about these things.
"Oh, thanks!" Chloe said, preparing to walk around him.
"Chloe, how about we have lunch together? You can treat it as your way of thanking me," Ethan suggested.
It was, in effect, a roundabout way of asking her to lunch.
"No, thanks. I’m worried someone will take a picture, and then I’ll be accused of dating you." Not wanting to hear another word, Chloe quickened her pace and walked away.
Watching her hurry away, Ethan was suddenly overcome with a sense of defeat. ’It seems like no matter how hard I try, she wants nothing to do with me.’
As she stepped into the classroom, Chloe was once again met with the stares of all her classmates. Even though the posts were deleted quickly, new ones kept popping up. Since the incident happened at their school, almost everyone had seen it on their feeds by now.
She walked calmly to her seat. Stella Winters leaned over, her voice laced with concern. "Chloe, are you okay?"
"Of course I’m fine. Don’t worry about me," Chloe reassured her.
Seeing Chloe’s genuinely calm and unfazed expression, Stella breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, good. Don’t pay any attention to what they’re saying online. Someone’s obviously just jealous and trying to start a smear campaign."
’It was probably Brooke York,’ she thought.
Chloe nodded. "I think so too. And I’m going to prove my innocence."
"How are you going to do that?" Stella’s interest was piqued.
"They used the internet to attack me, so I’ll use it right back."
"You mean you’re going to post a video, too?"
"Yep. You can help me record it on your phone, and I’ll post it tonight." She chose the evening because that’s when people were off work or out of school and had time to be on their phones. If she posted it now, not many people would see it.
"Totally, no problem! Fighting fire with fire is a great idea, Chloe." Stella was supportive, but she was still worried. "But I’m afraid people online won’t buy it! After all, what can we show them to prove you’re innocent? It’s not like you can retake the test in front of all of them!"
"Don’t worry. I have a way to make them believe me."
「The Principal’s Office」
"Mr. Hale, you’re the one who posted that stuff online, aren’t you?" Jordan Walton’s first instinct was to suspect the homeroom teacher.
"Principal, do you have any proof that it was me?" the homeroom teacher retorted. He met Jordan Walton’s gaze without a trace of fear, his expression one of complete candor.